PESHAWAR: The business community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has vowed to fully participate in the traders’ convention to be held on Wednesday (today) in Islamabad to decide future line of action against the ‘harsh’ budgetary measures of the government.

In Peshawar all the groups of traders and industrialists have joined hands to take unified stand against the budget and taxes imposed on them. They criticised the taxation mechanism introduced by Federal Board of Revenue, especially relating to the CNIC invoicing condition on purchase of goods up to Rs50,000.

Markazi Tanzeem-i-Tajaraan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Malik Meher Elahi told Dawn that the businessmen, who had held meeting with Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa and Prime Minister Imran Khan were influential industrialists, who had their own issues.

He said that the traders’ convention in Islamabad was a compulsion of the business community because the FBR officials were least bothered to pay attention to their demands. “We are ready to announce shutter down strike for indefinite period if government does not accept the charter of demands presented to it by our representatives,” said Mr Elahi.

He said that traders did not want to politicise their issues but government forced them to seek support of political parties. He said that traders belonging to different districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would participate in the convention in a large number.

Haji Sharafat Ali MubaraK, the provincial president of his own faction of Markazi Tanzeem-i-Tajaraan, said that government should resolve the issues of traders as confrontation was harming national economy.

“We are ready to observe shutter down strike at national level in case the government does not accept our demands,” he said and added that the traders had time and again presented their demands to the authorities concerned but they were yet to solve their issues.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2019